School Start Times

Our Problem

Across the nation, there is a bus driver shortage. In the Park Hill School District, this has led to frustrating challenges. As Park Hill has grown, it has become more and more difficult for our school-bus service to keep and hire enough bus drivers. Our families and our school staff tell us they notice the problems in service that result from First Student’s shortage of drivers. Having so many inexperienced, substitute drivers and so many office workers having to cover bus routes means too many late buses and too many communication problems.

While costs for transportation increased sharply over the last few years, state funding for transportation has not kept up. Because we have some money in our reserves, this gap in funding is not an immediate crisis, but we cannot keep taking money from the reserves indefinitely for this and other costs.

Our Solution

We worked with First Student on solutions like increased driver pay, marketing job openings, and creative recruiting efforts, including providing hours in district jobs to help bring drivers up to full-time employment. However, there were still not enough drivers, so the Board voted to move ahead with efforts to add more tiers of bus routes, which would change our start times. Because the same drivers would be able to circle around and drive the additional tiers of bus routes, we would not need as many drivers.

Our Process

We initially started our process in April to change school start times, but because of overwhelming feedback from our Park Hill parents, staff members, students and community members, we decided not to change our start times for the 2019-2020 school year. Since then, our Sleep and Start Times work group investigated research about students’ sleep needs, and it considered how changing start times would impact our schools and our families’ lives. The work group’s report included survey results from more than 1,000 parents and about 400 staff.

To help us address this ongoing problem, our Board of Education approved advisory committee members, a timeline and evaluation criteria for creating a multi-tier busing model. This would change school start times, starting with the 2020-2021 school year.

This advisory committee studied the factors affecting this issue. They took into account the findings of the Sleep and Start Times work group.

Our Problem

Across the nation, there is a bus driver shortage. In the Park Hill School District, this has led to frustrating challenges. As Park Hill has grown, it has become more and more difficult for our school-bus service to keep and hire enough bus drivers. Our families and our school staff tell us they notice the problems in service that result from First Student’s shortage of drivers. Having so many inexperienced, substitute drivers and so many office workers having to cover bus routes means too many late buses and too many communication problems.

While costs for transportation increased sharply over the last few years, state funding for transportation has not kept up. Because we have some money in our reserves, this gap in funding is not an immediate crisis, but we cannot keep taking money from the reserves indefinitely for this and other costs.

Our Solution

We worked with First Student on solutions like increased driver pay, marketing job openings, and creative recruiting efforts, including providing hours in district jobs to help bring drivers up to full-time employment. However, there were still not enough drivers, so the Board voted to move ahead with efforts to add more tiers of bus routes, which would change our start times. Because the same drivers would be able to circle around and drive the additional tiers of bus routes, we would not need as many drivers.

Our Process

We initially started our process in April to change school start times, but because of overwhelming feedback from our Park Hill parents, staff members, students and community members, we decided not to change our start times for the 2019-2020 school year. Since then, our Sleep and Start Times work group investigated research about students’ sleep needs, and it considered how changing start times would impact our schools and our families’ lives. The work group’s report included survey results from more than 1,000 parents and about 400 staff.

To help us address this ongoing problem, our Board of Education approved advisory committee members, a timeline and evaluation criteria for creating a multi-tier busing model. This would change school start times, starting with the 2020-2021 school year.

This advisory committee studied the factors affecting this issue. They took into account the findings of the Sleep and Start Times work group.

The Board approved new school start times, starting with the 2020-2021 school year, after a process that started in April.

The recommendation came from the Start Times Advisory Committee, which developed its plan using data about sleep research and family impacts from an earlier work group. The advisory committee came up with 32 different bus-route scenarios to address the bus driver shortage, and then it narrowed the list down to three. After listening to thousands of comments on the three ideas from the public, both online and in person, the committee chose its final recommendation.

The Board approved new school start times, starting with the 2020-2021 school year, after a process that started in April.

The recommendation came from the Start Times Advisory Committee, which developed its plan using data about sleep research and family impacts from an earlier work group. The advisory committee came up with 32 different bus-route scenarios to address the bus driver shortage, and then it narrowed the list down to three. After listening to thousands of comments on the three ideas from the public, both online and in person, the committee chose its final recommendation.

The Board approved that recommendation, and then it voted to authorize Superintendent Dr. Jeanette Cowherd to make adjustments as necessary.

Members of the Start Times Advisory Committee suggested changes to the final recommendation to the Board of Education. We will consider all their changes, but we will be cautious about any considerations that would affect more students than the ones they intend, or about which we have received opposing feedback. We will also make some adjustments in the spring, after we select a bus company. The advisory committee's list of considerations is below.

Members of the Start Times Advisory Committee suggested changes to the final recommendation to the Board of Education. We will consider all their changes, but we will be cautious about any considerations that would affect more students than the ones they intend, or about which we have received opposing feedback. We will also make some adjustments in the spring, after we select a bus company. The advisory committee's list of considerations is below.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, welcomed everyone, and the advisory committee approved its minutes from the previous meeting.

Public Feedback:Nicole Kirby, director of communication services, reviewed all the feedback from the idea boards on Park Hill Listens. The advisory committee members discussed the feedback they received both online and in person at the open house.

Selection of Recommendation:Each member of the advisory committee filled out a ballot, ranking the final three ideas. Based on their votes, the Yellow idea will be the advisory committee's final recommendation to the Board of Education.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, welcomed everyone, and the advisory committee approved its minutes from the previous meeting.

Public Feedback:Nicole Kirby, director of communication services, reviewed all the feedback from the idea boards on Park Hill Listens. The advisory committee members discussed the feedback they received both online and in person at the open house.

Selection of Recommendation:Each member of the advisory committee filled out a ballot, ranking the final three ideas. Based on their votes, the Yellow idea will be the advisory committee's final recommendation to the Board of Education.

List of Considerations:The advisory committee members made a list of considerations for ways the district could improve the Yellow idea. Please check back to Park Hill Listens in the next few days to see this list.

Oct. 24, 2019: The Board considers and votes on the final recommendation. We will send out a message sharing that decision right away that night.

Winter 2020:At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we will be at the end of our current contract for transportation services. This fall, we will open up a request for proposals to any interested transportation provider, and in the winter, we will select our provider. Our provider for next year will need to review the final start times plan and might make small tweaks.

August 2020: The new school start times will take effect in the 2020-2021 school year.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, welcomed everyone, and the advisory committee approved its minutes from the previous meeting. Dr. Kelly reviewed the timeline for the rest of the process.

Plan Scoring:The advisory committee members each reviewed all the additional ideas the advisory committee created at the last meeting, using the criteria set by the Board of Education. Dr. Mike Kimbrel, executive director of quality and evaluation, reminded them how to score using the criteria.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, welcomed everyone, and the advisory committee approved its minutes from the previous meeting. Dr. Kelly reviewed the timeline for the rest of the process.

Plan Scoring:The advisory committee members each reviewed all the additional ideas the advisory committee created at the last meeting, using the criteria set by the Board of Education. Dr. Mike Kimbrel, executive director of quality and evaluation, reminded them how to score using the criteria.

Dr. Kelly explained that the ideas were in three groups:

In the blue ideas, the high schools are in the first tier.

In the orange ideas, the high schools are in the second tier.

The yellow ideas were a hybrid, where the high schools were in different tiers or there were four different tiers.

Using their scores, they narrowed down the ideas from 32 original ideas to three ideas, with one idea from each category.

They eliminated all the ideas where there were four tiers, because although these ideas scored well for reducing the number of bus drivers needed, they had too negative an effect on families.

Getting Public Feedback and Making a List of Considerations:Nicole Kirby, director of communication services, explained how we will get feedback from the public. She said that after the meeting, the three ideas the advisory committee chose would go out to the public for review on Park Hill Listens.

People will be able to comment on the ideas, and they will also be able to like and comment on other people’s comments.

There will also be a public meeting from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Plaza Middle School, where people can review the ideas, ask questions and give their feedback in person.

Kirby explained that the advisory committee would review all the feedback and use it to make a list of considerations for ways to improve the final recommendation to the Board of Education.

Next Meeting:There will be a short advisory committee meeting from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1, before the public open house. Then there will be another advisory committee meeting the next day, from 4:30-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, where the group will review all the feedback.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, called the meeting to order and welcomed the advisory committee members. The group approved the minutes from the last meeting and then Dr. Kelly went over the timeline for the rest of the process.

Scoring:The advisory committee members reviewed all 18 ideas they had come up with during their previous meeting. Dr. Kelly had separated the ideas into three groups: ideas that had the high schools first, ideas that had the high schools in a later tier, and ideas that had four tiers of bus routes.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, called the meeting to order and welcomed the advisory committee members. The group approved the minutes from the last meeting and then Dr. Kelly went over the timeline for the rest of the process.

Scoring:The advisory committee members reviewed all 18 ideas they had come up with during their previous meeting. Dr. Kelly had separated the ideas into three groups: ideas that had the high schools first, ideas that had the high schools in a later tier, and ideas that had four tiers of bus routes.

Dr. Kelly took the group through the process of providing their scores for all 18 ideas, based on the Board of Education’s criteria.

Creation and Revision of Plans:The advisory committee members discussed which of the three groups of ideas they each liked the best, and then they worked with others who preferred the same group to come up with new or revised ideas.

Next Meeting:At the next meeting, which will be 4:30-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23 in the Plaza Middle School media center, the advisory committee will score the new ideas they created. Then, they will find out which plans scored the highest. These are the plans that will go to the public for feedback. The advisory committee will also start a list of considerations for improvement for each of the highest scoring ideas.

The advisory committee started by learning how to build potential scenarios for bus routes and start times. Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, showed the group a sample plan to help them figure out how to create their own. Dr. Mike Kimbrel, executive director of quality and evaluation, showed them how to score and evaluate the ideas according to the criteria from the Board of Education.

Then the members of the advisory committee, in teams of three and four, spent the rest of the time creating their own scenarios.

The advisory committee started by learning how to build potential scenarios for bus routes and start times. Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, showed the group a sample plan to help them figure out how to create their own. Dr. Mike Kimbrel, executive director of quality and evaluation, showed them how to score and evaluate the ideas according to the criteria from the Board of Education.

Then the members of the advisory committee, in teams of three and four, spent the rest of the time creating their own scenarios.

At future meetings, the group will continue to evaluate, refine and develop ideas for these scenarios. Then they will narrow down their ideas, selecting some to bring to the public to ask for feedback.

Next meeting

The next advisory committee meeting will be 4:30-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9 in the media center at Plaza Middle School. It is open to the public.

CRITERIA BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGEDr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, told the group that they would continue providing background information about the criteria at this meeting.

Align with findings from Sleep and Start Times work group:The School Start Time Plan will align with findings from the district’s Sleep and Start Times work group.Priority: very important

CRITERIA BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGEDr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, told the group that they would continue providing background information about the criteria at this meeting.

Align with findings from Sleep and Start Times work group:The School Start Time Plan will align with findings from the district’s Sleep and Start Times work group.Priority: very important

Elementary student sleep time and related outcomes do not appear to be affected much by different start times.

Teens have different circadian rhythms than younger children or adults. As a result, it is difficult for them to fall asleep early and wake up early.

Most teens are not getting the recommended amount of sleep.

There are significant limitations in the research regarding sleep and start times.

For teens, later start times are associated with longer total sleep time.

Some evidence shows moving high school and middle school start times later may result in:

Some reduction in student sleepiness

Some reduction in morning automobile accidents involving students

Some reduction in truancy

Some reduction in symptoms of depression

Results are inconclusive for outcomes related to academic achievement.

The work group also found evidence of how potential changes in start times might impact students, families and schools, reported Dr. Klein, with the help of Director of Elementary Education Dr. Jasmine Briedwell, Director of Educational Programs Dr. Stephanie Amaya, and Director of Secondary Education Dr. Jaime Dial.

In many scenarios, families’ child care needs would likely change.

For elementary and middle school students, very early start times would mean bus riders and walkers would be outside in the dark and in colder temperatures.

Later start times would mean elementary and middle school students who live at the end of bus routes might be dropped off after 5 p.m. Other impacts for students in these grade levels with later start times include limiting after-school activities and preventing bus riders waiting in the dark in the mornings.

Later start times would result in students involved in after-school activities getting home after dark during daylight savings time.

Later start times would result in limited after-school activities.

Later start times would result in bus routes running during afternoon rush hour.

For high-school students with later start times, impacts include . . .

Student-athletes and coaches in many sports would miss additional class time to attend sporting events scheduled outside the traditional class schedule.

Student access to outside community activities like dance or athletics would decrease.

Lights would need to be installed on practice and playing fields.

Student access to Professional Studies opportunities would be limited.

Students who rely on individual transportation services would not be able to use taxis after 5 p.m.

Facility access for community practices and activities would be reduced.

Some high school practices and activities could occur before school.

More than 1,000 families and almost 400 staff members filled out a survey for the work group.

Results of surveys indicate both staff and guardians highly value increasing adolescent sleep, and a slight majority of both groups favor changing high school start times to later in the morning.

Differences in survey responses were much greater for socioeconomic status and ethnicity than for grade span.

A consistent finding is guardians of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were more likely to affirm the importance of findings related to student safety early in the morning or later in the evening.

Dr. Klein summarized the implications of the work group’s findings, saying that, as the district addresses the nationwide bus driver shortage, it would be prudent to focus on minimizing the negative side effects of moving start times, balanced with addressing the issue of adolescent sleep.

Maintain access to academic and extra-curricular programming:The School Start Time Plan will not negatively impact current academic opportunities or extracurricular programming.Priority: very important

Dr. Klein covered this criterion as part of his summary of the work of the Sleep and Start Times work group.

Minimize negative impact on families:The School Start Time Plan will minimize negative impact on families, such as negative impacts on child care solutions, negative financial impact to families, and negative impact on access to opportunities and activities outside of school.Priority: very important

Lisa McLaughlin, coordinator of community programs, who is in charge of our school-age child care program, said that we do not plan to change Adventure Club hours or rates when start times change.

She provided some data about our current Adventure Club enrollment. She shared that we usually clear the waiting lists by mid-fall, and she said we have waiting lists because it is difficult to recruit people for these part-time positions. Many of our staff members in this area are college students.

She said that after-school clubs that our Community Education program offers could be offered before school as well, if needed.

Nicole Kirby, director of communication services, said that we are using the Park Hill Listens site similarly to how we used it last school year. She said we are posting updates and information on the site, and we will post answers to frequently asked questions in the next few weeks. Once the advisory committee comes up with some options to consider, we will post those on Park Hill Listens and ask for public feedback on them. We will have an open house for people to review and respond to the potential options from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on October 1 at Plaza Middle School.

Minimize change and disruption:The School Start Time Plan will minimize the number of students whose school start time changes by more than 15 minutes.Priority: very important

Dr. Kelly showed the advisory committee how it will measure how much each proposal impacts students.

He emphasized that the example he showed them was just for demonstration, because, while the Board has already decided that we will go to a multi-tier bus system, what that plan will look like is entirely up in the air.

Maintain consistency with benchmark schools and districts:School start and end times in the district’s School Start Time Plan will be consistent with benchmark school districts.Priority: important

Dr. Kelly showed how several, similar school districts in our region, which compete with our students in athletics, arrange their bus routes and start times.

Next meetingThe next advisory committee meeting will be 4:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, August 28 in the media center at Plaza Middle School. It is open to the public

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, had the advisory committee members introduce themselves. There are community members and administrators from around the district on the advisory committee.

DEFINITION OF TERMSDr. Kelly shared some information about Park Hill’s transportation and the language we use to describe it:

Transportation provider - First Student

Contract - Park Hill is in the last year of a five-year contract with First Student. This fall, we will request proposals from all interested transportation providers for a new contract that would start in fall 2020.

Dr. Paul Kelly, assistant superintendent for business services, had the advisory committee members introduce themselves. There are community members and administrators from around the district on the advisory committee.

DEFINITION OF TERMSDr. Kelly shared some information about Park Hill’s transportation and the language we use to describe it:

Transportation provider - First Student

Contract - Park Hill is in the last year of a five-year contract with First Student. This fall, we will request proposals from all interested transportation providers for a new contract that would start in fall 2020.

Bus barn - Parking lot that First Student owns at 9 Highway and 45 Highway, where First Student stores its buses

District facility - We are building our own bus barn and transportation facility, which will be complete in early 2020. This will save us some money, because we will not have to use First Student’s facility, and it will allow us to get more competitive bids for transportation from companies that do not own a bus barn in Park Hill.

Bus driver shortage - Districts across the country are struggling to hire enough bus drivers, because so many professional drivers with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) are going to work for companies like Amazon. In Park Hill, not being able to hire enough experienced bus drivers means that we have more inexperienced, substitute drivers on our routes, and the people who would normally be helping with customer service calls have to fill in as substitute drivers.

Two-tier framework vs. multi-tier framework - Dr. Kelly used fictional schools to illustrate how a district with two start times needs more buses and drivers than a district that has three or more different start times. He showed how, with more tiers of different start times, the same buses and drivers, once they drop off a group of students at one school, then have time to pick up and drop off two more rounds of students for two more schools.

ACTIVITYDr. Mike Kimbrel, executive director of quality and evaluation, worked with the advisory committee to find out what they were hearing, what questions they believe we should address, and what they think we should communicate.

They shared their thoughts on sticky notes, worked with their tables to discuss and group the ideas into themes, and then walked around to observe all the feedback.

COMMITTEE TIMELINE AND PROCESSESDr. Kelly shared how the advisory committee fit into the overall decision-making process.

School Start Time Advisory CommitteeThis is a Board-appointed committee, which means it is open to the public. It will produce a recommendation to the Board of Education.

Scope of the advisory committeeThe Board tasked the advisory committee with recommending a multi-tier student transportation plan that requires less bus drivers and maintains the quality of our student transportation services.

History of the planThe district first considered a multi-tier plan in 2011, but decided against it. We introduced the idea again in 2018, and presented three options that were very similar to each other in spring 2019. After a great deal of negative feedback, we decided not to change the 2019-2020 start times. A Sleep and Start Times work group met in May and June to study the research about students’ sleep needs and the impacts of changing start times on schools and families. The Board vote in June to move forward with a process to create a multi-tiered bus plan, and the Board voted in July to approve the advisory committee, timeline and criteria.

TimelineDr. Kelly shared the timeline for the advisory committee’s meetings, as well as a public open house and reports to the Board of Education.

BOARD'S CRITERIADr. Kelly shared the Board’s criteria for evaluating a recommendation, and he shared that the district would develop metrics, scales and scoring guides for these criteria.

He and Jim Rich, the director of operations, began sharing detailed background information about each of the criteria, which they will finish at the next meeting.

Reduce bus drivers, buses and routes:The School Start Time Plan will result in a measurable decrease in the number of bus drivers and buses needed to transport students to and from school. Reduced number of drivers will improve the overall quality of service. Priority: critical

Because we currently have a two-tier framework, bus drivers have split shifts and do not get enough hours to qualify for benefits. Because of the lack of hours, lack of benefits and high expectations for student supervision and safety, there is high turnover among school bus drivers.

The Kansas City areas projects it will need another 3,000 drivers with CDLs for all driving needs in the next three years.

An experienced First Student employee uses routing software to create routes, based on safety, bus capacity and limits for the route times.

We consolidate routes to meet our targets for the bus loads and time on the buses. Sometimes, we might see an empty bus because of weather, activities or family schedules. Or it might be at the end of a route or between routes.

We worked to help First Student address the shortage by helping to market job openings, agreeing to a cost increase in order to pay drivers more, and offering job-share opportunities with district jobs to help drivers qualify for benefits.

Although First Student is an outside company that has to deal with this nation-wide shortage, it creates service and safety concerns for the district and our students, so we consider it our problem. Long-term funding is also a concern.

Align with findings from Sleep and Start Times work group: The School Start Time Plan will align with findings from the district’s Sleep and Start Times work group.Priority: very important

Dr. Jeff Klein, assistant superintendent for academic services, gave a preliminary description of the work of the Sleep and Start Times work group.

Reduce cost of student transportation:The School Start Time Plan will result in a reduction in costs to transport students daily with annual operating cost savings redirected to the classroom.Priority: very important

State law requires us to provide service to everyone that lives more than three miles from school, and the state reimburses us for transporting anyone who lives more than a mile away. Thanks to a recent law, we can also be reimbursed for students who live closer for whom we have safety concerns about their walking route. In Park Hill, where there are a lack of safe walking routes, we offer transportation to all students free of charge.

Over the last couple decades, costs for transportation increased sharply and Park Hill’s rising enrollment increased our transportation needs. During the same time, the state funding for transportation dropped and then stayed low.

In 2017-2018, we spent $7.68 million on student transportation, and $4.65 million of that was for daily routes.

Route costs:

A regular education single route costs $271.72 per morning or afternoon route, each day. This means a bus leaving the bus barn, picking up students, delivering them to school and returning to the bus barn each morning and afternoon.

A double route costs $299.23 per morning or afternoon route, each day. This means a bus leaving the bus barn, pick up students, delivering them to school, picking up a second load of students, delivering them to school, and then returning to the bus barn each morning and afternoon. This requires 98 routes.

If we had gone to a triple route this year, as we had proposed, we estimated that it would cost $329.45 per morning or afternoon route, each day. This means a bus leaving the bus barn, pick up students, delivering them to school, picking up a second load of students, delivering them to school, picking up a third load of students, delivering them to school, and then returning to the bus barn each morning and afternoon.

Route needs:

In 2018-2019, we needed 106 buses and drivers for 199 routes. This included 13 buses and drivers for shuttles.

In 2019-2020, we will need 113 buses and drivers for 211 routes. This includes 13 to 15 buses and drivers for shuttles.

Using this year’s numbers, a multi-tiered routing model would mean that would need 71 buses and drivers for 213 routes, including shuttles.

Our current cost for regular routes is $5,861,386, including $641,618 for shuttles. Using this year’s numbers, a three-tier model would cost $4,332,112, including $168,523 for shuttles. This would save $1,529,274.

Maintain safety at bus stops:The School Start Time Plan will not negatively impact the safety of students at bus stops.Priority: very important

We put the bus stops into the routing software each year, then we start to receive requests to modify the bus stops. We only make changes if they meet our safety and efficiency requirements.

We will not reduce the number of bus stops too much, even though this would be more efficient, because it would compromise safety. In addition, we cannot continually change bus stops throughout the year, because it reduces safety.

Some parents tell us they are concerned about young children waiting at bus stops in the dark.

Maintain access to academic and extra-curricular programming:The School Start Time Plan will not negatively impact current academic opportunities or extracurricular programming.Priority: very important

Background details at next meeting

Minimize negative impact on families:The School Start Time Plan will minimize negative impact on families, such as negative impacts on child care solutions, negative financial impact to families, and negative impact on access to opportunities and activities outside of school.Priority: very important

Background details at next meeting

Minimize change and disruption:The School Start Time Plan will minimize the number of students whose school start time changes by more than 15 minutes.Priority: very important

Background details at next meeting

Maintain consistency with benchmark schools and districts:School start and end times in the district’s School Start Time Plan will be consistent with benchmark school districts.Priority: important

Background details at next meeting

NEXT MEETINGThe next advisory committee meeting will be 4:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, August 7 in the media center at Lakeview Middle School. It is open to the public

July 25, 2019

July 31, 2019

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the media center at Lakeview
Middle School. The committee's meetings are open to the public.

Aug. 7, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the
media center at Lakeview. The committee's meetings are open to the public.

Aug. 28, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the media center at Plaza
Middle School. The committee's meetings are open to the public.

Sept. 9, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the media center at Plaza. The committee's meetings are open to the public.

Sept. 23, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the media center at Plaza. The committee's meetings are open to the public.

Sept. 23, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

Public feedback boards open here on Park Hill Listens.

Oct. 1, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the media center at
Plaza. The committee's meetings are open to the public.

Oct. 1, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

There is an open house for the public, 5:30-8 p.m. in the large gym at Plaza.

Oct. 2, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

At noon on Wednesday, Oct. 2, we will close the idea comment boards, so the advisory committee can review all the comments before it makes a recommendation to the Board.

Oct. 2, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The School Start Times advisory committee meets from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the media center at Plaza. At this meeting, the advisory committee will consider all the public feedback before deciding on a recommendation to the Board of Education. This recommendation will include considerations for fine-tuning the recommendation.

Oct. 10, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The Board receives the advisory committee's recommended plan.

Oct. 17, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The Board discusses the final recommendation.

Oct. 24, 2019

School Start Times has finished this stage

The Board considers and votes on the final recommendation. We will send out a message sharing that decision right away that night.

Winter 2020

School Start Times is currently at this stage

At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we will be at the end of our current contract for transportation services. This fall, we will open up a request for proposals to any interested transportation provider, and in the winter, we will select our provider.

Our provider for next year will need to review the final start times plan and might make small tweaks.

August 2020

this is an upcoming stage for School Start Times

The new school start times will take effect in the
2020-2021 school year.